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Cold Dawn of the Race

Susan McKenzie / 09.09.2006

The race began in the brutal cold of early autumn dawn, with temperatures hovering around freezing. After an afternoon and evening of thunderstorms and heavy driving rain, this morning the full moon was making a valiant attempt to break through the cloud hanging over the Ashuapmushuan Nature Reserve. As the countdown began for the third edition of the Raid World Championship, and its inaugural trip to Canada.

With helmets and headlamps and full racing gear, only team numbers could distinguish one racer from another. Twenty-six teams of four add up to a lot of mountain bikes and the race start, while loud and charged with energy, was far from graceful.

Pedals bumped and handlebars connected as the racers jammed their way through the Raid World Championship archway, like cattle being herded into a pen (or in this case, out of.) Two teams missed the mass exit – Spain’s Uka X Team Lleida was missing some gear and departed about five minutes after the crowd, while two members of Pedini-Iret were also slow to depart for reasons unknown.

This first biking section is little more than a prelude to the race and, from a practical perspective, the best way to get teams from Lac Chigoubiche to the put-in spot for the first of six paddling sections. With virtually every paddling section restricted by a dark zone, race organizers needed to get teams on the water early in the day.

By seven in the morning, most of the teams had made the transition from their bikes to the water, and the sky was beginning to clear and by late afternoon the sun was exerting some authority, though the nights will remain cold.

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